Vanilla Series: The Story of Little Monica

Synopsis

Will grew up as an orphan in the city of Little Monica, famed throughout the world for its art and aesthetic quality. Upon returning as an adult, he finds that much has changed: the opera has become a venue for sex shows, and the hedonistic Kajo has turned the city into a dark shadow of itself. Amid all this, Will seeks to find his childhood friend, Celia, and, well ...

... you know, he might get somewhere if he weren't so preoccupied with Celia's little sisters, Tina and Mei. Not to mention the catgirl Miss Meow ... and ... um ...

Review

*snicker*

Oooookay! I'm not sure I've laughed this hard in a long time, but Story of Little Monica is just such a goofy little show.

First off, for those of you wondering, Little Monica is NOT the name of a lolicon girl, but rather, the city itself, named after its protector, a patroness of the arts. Yes, that is a sigh of relief you're hearing from this end of the globe.

But ... let's not be so hasty in thinking all is well here. Let's forget about the utterly hilarious story for a moment and concentrate on the visuals. You see, the character designs are very cute, and have the unfortunate side-effect of making all the girls look like they're in junior high school, which, come to think of it, isn't really all too different from being Japanese ...

*ducks thrown objects*

Kidding, kidding!

Still, this wouldn't be so bad if they weren't also all equipped with day-glo pink and orange nipples! Weeeeeee! Day-glo pink and orange! Oh, so hot. Also, Attack of the Invisible Penis! Thankfully, they only employ that trick once before thinking better of it, but the animation is merely average and not terribly realistic. Seriously, what's Will packing, anyway, an icing tube?!? At least Will is a decent-looking guy, which is a nice change of pace as opposed to most hentai anime, where even Ron Jeremy would qualify as "easy on the eyes".

Okay, okay, that aside, The Story of Little Monica is nice because the frequent, fairly explicit sex scenes are all consensual and even tender. Will's essentially a nice guy who's guilty of thinking with his other head a little too often. There's no rape, and about the kinkiest thing here is when the two younger sisters double-team Will in the second episode. Dunno about you, but this is totally goofy wish fulfillment, and of course we all know Will is just pining over Celia while he screws virtually every other girl in the cast.

Plus, there's this utterly weird subplot which essentially tells you that not having music in your life turns you into a totally cheesy Evil Maniacal Pimp of Doom, and that the reverse makes you a totally cheesy Romantic Hero of Justice, or something to that extent. It's all very broad and unintentionally funny and really is just a way to pad this show out to justify all the sex.

To its credit, The Story of Little Monica is charming, light, and fluffy, and has little to none of the dark themes so common in hentai these days. No bondage, no domination, nothing involving bodily functions, and thank goodness for that. The girls are cute, and if you don't mind the over-the-top tropes of cartoon pornography (holy crap that's a lot of yogurt, sir!), then by all means you're welcome to enjoy this.

The Story of Little Monica isn't particularly deep or thoughtful, but it's a decent title for those looking for cartoon porn but don't want to feel like utter crap for having done so. But you still have to realize that the entire concept is too silly to take seriously, and just because it's amusing doesn't mean it's good on any absolute scale.

Another title that's good for the genre, and very entertaining, but not what you'd call artistic or subtle. Add a star, or even two, if all you're looking for is cute girls getting it on with a regular-looking guy. However, if you're looking for a good story ... probably best to check elsewhere. — Carlos Ross

Recommended Audience: ADULTS ONLY. Explicit sex. The art style makes the characters look a bit on the young side, but we are led to assume they're legal. Or at least legal in whatever country they live in. Anyway.